1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of event reporting, such as error reporting, in integrated circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuits are often designed to detect certain types of errors and to log the errors in registers. Software reads the registers to determine what errors have been detected, and the software may attempt to take corrective action or inform a user of the problem so that the user may take corrective action.
In common integrated circuits, the errors to be logged may be detected anywhere within the integrated circuit. Signals indicating a given error must then be routed from the logic that detects the error to the register that logs the error. Routing the signals may cause congestion in the integrated circuit, particularly if a large number of errors are detected and recorded. Additionally, routing the signals long distances in the integrated circuit may cause timing issues.
As integrated circuit development (and, in some cases, software development of the software that interfaces to the integrated circuit) proceeds, various errors may be viewed as more or less severe. Similarly, the desired actions to be taken when various errors are detected may change. For example, in the development environment such as the lab, the actions to be taken may differ from those in the production environment such as the customer site. In the lab, it may be desirable to make the detection of the error observable external to the integrated circuit. Additionally, it may be desirable to treat detected errors as more severe in the lab than in the field, to aid in debugging. On the other hand, observability of the error in the customer environment may be less important while recovery from the error without user intervention may be more important.